DAYTON (OH) — A hot-scoring Flyer offense overcame some shaky defensive work to blow away a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon against the Northwestern Wildcats at Baujan Field. Juliana Libertin tallied a pair of goals and one assist, while Colleen Williams dished four helpers to pace Dayton. UD improves to 3-1, while the Wildcats suffer their first loss of the season (2-1).

Things couldn’t have started any better for the Flyers as they took control of the match shortly after kickoff and put constant pressure on the Northwestern back line. With Colleen Williams controlling possession and Juliana Libertin running up and down the right touch line, UD stretched the NU defense and did very well to move the ball forward. Much of the movement came out of the midfield where the Flyers strung passes together to find teammates in open space. Part of that success came from Alexis Garcia and Alysha Mallon. But space was also available up the middle and as UD continued to apply pressure, the Wildcat back line was forced to chase.

Libertin wasted no time calling her own number, running into a ball near the right flank and beating her defender for a well-slotted shot at the near post from 12 yards out in the 7th minute. Quickly up 1-0, UD could now settle in and play their brand of soccer.

For the next 20 minutes, it was mostly good news. UD continued to work hard for loose balls and by and large maintained their overall shape on the field. The organization kept the Flyers with possession for extended stretches and that in turn led to more chances in the offensive third.

Alexis Garcia made it 2-0 in the 19th minute with a shot that kissed off the right post and into the net. The build-up was very good and finishing once again clinical.

Firmly in the driver’s seat, Dayton forced NU to play more direct over the last 20 minutes of the half. In some cases that included long balls over the top, but NU also found better success on the ground by working it through the midfield. The gaps that weren’t there to start the match suddenly materialized and before long, the Wildcats were knocking the ball around — and perhaps knocking on the door for a goal of their own.

Dayton lost their opening form and had trouble winning loose balls or keeping attacking players out of the box. The defensive back line also had trouble clearing routine balls out of danger, allowing NU to maintain more possession than they deserved. Passing developed a case of the yips and NU had some chances to make the Flyers pay for their late-half sloppiness.

Fortunately that never happened and UD entered halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead. Shots were 13-3 in favor of UD, while the Flyers edged NU in corner kicks 2-1.

The second half started much like the first half ended — with sloppiness in the back and a lack of urgency on closeouts, tackles, and clearances. The Wildcats were able to parlay that into some decent possession and found time to put balls into the Flyer box for scoring opportunities. Lacking sure-footedness in front of GK Jordin Melchert and lacking purpose overall, Dayton was more or less playing against the clock rather than the opponent.

The malaise cost UD in the 63rd minute on poor decision-making. Rather than clear a ball to the wings, UD played it back to a compromised Melchert lacking any space to clear it herself. She struck the clear off the NU player and it bounced backwards from six yards out and into the open net for a 2-1 score. Just 84 seconds later, NU tied the score at 2-2 on another gaff in the Flyer back line. At the blink of an eye, UD went from driving the train to being a passenger.

The Flyer offense responded in a big way however and made up for lost ground in the last 25 minutes. One minute after the tying score, Nicole Waters finished a beautiful piece of service from Alysha Mallon to the high post for the 3-2 Dayton lead. The entire build-up was high-class and each solid pass in the exchange led to something better.

As quickly as UD lost the lead, they had it back. But could they maintain?

UD answered with an emphatic ‘yes’. Libertin added her second goal of the afternoon on equally impressive build-up in the midfield. Mallon and Williams linked up and provided a perfect through-ball to Libertin headed toward the goal mouth. The textbook finish inside the box made it 4-2 Flyers in the 75th minute. In all likelihood, it was also the final nail the coffin for Northwestern.

Dayton added a fifth score just 2:35 later when Williams dribbled through the midfield, sucked the defense toward her, and dished a perfect pass against the run of play to freshman Ashley Campbell. Wide open, Campbell took a couple touches and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to round out the afternoon scoring.

For the match, UD out-shot NU 21-10 and owned a 5-4 edge in corner kicks.

Defensively, Dayton was out of synch most of the afternoon and both goals were from poor giveaways in the back line. Conceding the soft goals, the Flyer offense saved the team’s bacon in the second half with scores that were as pretty as they were timely. All five goals on the afternoon were well-crafted and many players took part in each of them. From the initial out-bound service, to the square passes or through balls that broke a teammate open, to the well-composed finishes on goal, it’s difficult to score more effectively.

It remains to be seen how good the Wildcats are. They struggled mightily last season and lost a ton of close matches — but mostly outplayed Dayton in a 2-1 loss to the Flyers in Evanston, IL, a year ago. In some respects, UD made it tougher on themselves by basically spotting NU two unearned goals, but NU did create enough scoring chances of their own in the second half to warrant at least one score for their body of work. It was comforting to see the UD offense click it into high gear when needed.

UD stands a respectable 3-1 thus far, and the weekend sweep of #19 Boston U., and Northwestern has to be cataloged under ‘mission accomplished.’ There’s plenty to improve upon — namely defense — but for now Dayton is scoring enough goals to learn these lessons after victories rather than defeats. There remain positions on the field however still up for grabs.

UD remains at home next week for matches against Central Michigan and DePaul.